Traditional Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Black (K) (or CMYK) laser or Light Emitting Diode (LED) type printers come standard with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black toner and/or drum cartridges. However, traditional black toner printers and CMYK toner printers are generally used in surface printing of materials, including direct-to-fabric printing, but do not become part of the fabric like dye sublimation printings does.
Dye sublimation printing works by heating a special type of solid ink. This is different from traditional printing techniques, such as traditional inkjet, CMYK laser, or LED type printers, which spray liquid ink onto a page or surface, staining it (as in the case of inkjet) or transferring a dry ink (toner) to a page or surface and heat pressing the toner into the page or surface. Instead, dye sublimation printing heats up the solid ink, causing it to turn into gas vapors. These vapors make their way into the target surface, where they then turn back into solid form. The target surface may be transfer paper, which is coupled to a piece of polyester or another synthetic fabric, and then fed through heated rollers that combine heat with pressure to expand the cells of the fabric and convert the dye to a gaseous state. The dye is sublimated into the open pores of the polymeric synthetic materials, and as it cools again, traps the sublimated dye within the cells of the fabric. Because the dye became gaseous, it does not create a dot pattern during the sublimation process like traditional printing techniques, rather it creates a continuous tone print that creates brighter and smoother color variations and transitions, and a superior overall look.
Thus, there is a need for a method for converting or retrofitting a standard CMYK (four cartridge) or CMYKW (five cartridge) toner printer to print using sublimation toner.